Ski Builders Forum

anyone on here using a planer to profile cores? what planer are you using? what do you suggest?

I use a drum sander, planers are a bit too aggressive for my liking

Just search the forum for planer and you'll see what people are using. I have a Delta 22-560 13" planer.

Thanks, i can get 60 percent off on power tools through a friends work, could pick up a really nice full table planer for about the same price as that delta. I'm trying to make a bunch of boards this winter. do you think it is worth picking up a higher end planer?

Are you new to building skis/boards?

Are you planning on using plastic sidewalls?

A larger planer probably isn't needed, unless you have a surplus of shop space (many of us work in garages/small shops at home, where shop space is a premium so large tools aren't always a good thing). But a higher end planer may give you better results (although honestly probably not a noticeable difference)

I have a 13" Ryobi planer from home depot. I used to use it for profiling and it worked fine (other than sidewalls ripping off, which I think is a risk with any planer). Now I do my profiling with my CNC router, so the planer is only used to clean up and flatten core blanks before cutting/profiling.

I use a 12" Delta planer. Works fine. Take a small amount off on each pass (.5mm - 1mm or so)

I use a 12" Delta planer. Works fine. Take a small amount off on each pass (.5mm - 1mm or so)

Hi, I'm still building the tools to build skis, but have followed the comments concerning plastic sidewall tear out. After many years using a Makita 15" two knife planer(amazing machine no longer produced), I replaced it with a powermatic 20" w/ spiral cutter head. NEVER would i go back to knives and plan on upgrading my joiner to spiral cutter. Tear out is virtually a thing of the past and I've wondered how it would handle plastic sidewalls.
Hopefully some day I'll try it first hand....
Most machines can be upgraded I think. Not cheap, but well worth it over the long run imho.
Good luck

IIRC spiral cutters sold as a replacement part for almost any planer .....expensive price started at thousand dollars


OT on this thread.
How about belt sander? How about use base sander as profiler? In this set up profiling crib have to go upside down........ maybe I should start separate thread on the subject

I'd be curious to see how a spiral cut blade in a planer does. Its going to be exerting some amount of lateral force on the sidewall, which may may ripping the sidewalls off worse (on one side anyways).

As for profiling with a base grinder... I've actually done that on one pair. I used the planer until it was removing material along the entire length, but the overall thickness was still too much. Then I ran the cores through the base grinder with the autofeed so that it would take off the same amount of material with each pass. It worked... but it was a mess.

I had a piece of uhmw laying around so I ran it through the planer with spiral cutter. It seemed to work very well for a 1 1/4 wide x 3/4" x 48" strip. I planed it down to about 1.5 mm at the ends.
I'll try to post pics.

twizzstyle wrote:
As for profiling with a base grinder... I've actually done that on one pair. I used the planer until it was removing material along the entire length, but the overall thickness was still too much. Then I ran the cores through the base grinder with the autofeed so that it would take off the same amount of material with each pass. It worked... but it was a mess.

mess is not the problem. any other method just as messy without dust collector. I was thinking about profiling with a base sander altogether with it own crib rails and stuff. For now I can figure out how to make depth guiding system for crib to glide on.

Here are some pics of the planed uhmw,( i think...). Twizz's comment about pulling apart from the wood is possible, but I have no experience with that yet.
It seemed to cut like butter.
Also a couple pictures of my Ipe cat track

bhenry wrote: Twizz's comment about pulling apart from the wood is possible, but I have no experience with that yet.

Oh boy... prepare yourself emotionally! It's not fun!

We have all experienced that to some degree, not fun. I make my sidewall by epoxying a full plank of sidewall to a plank of 6mm thick hardwood. This get wood glued to the preshaped core. This seems really bomber. Out of 12 sets of cores last year and another 5 pair so far this year I have only had a single core get damaged. This was totally my fault. I could see the blades were getting dull but I only had a few passes to go......yeah right.

Any time you hear the sound of the planer change when it is cutting, stop and check your cores. Re glue if there is an sign of gouging/snipe. This will save many cores. That damage will not just pane out. It is happening because there is vibration. Vibration = cores getting loose and jumping p into the blades = ruined core.